The integration of filmless radiology in a restorative general practice.

A new faster, safer era has evolved for radiology in the dental office. This paper is a review of the latest technology that enables dentists to integrate filmless radiology into their practices.

New horizons in local anesthesia.

The computer-controlled local anesthesia system and the TEA system present 21st-century alternatives to the traditional syringe. The TEA system is a non-invasive form of anesthesia that blocks pain electronically, using the same cellular mechanism as local chemical anesthesia. Targeted electronic anesthesia provides pain control for restorative dental procedures without the use of needles or postoperative discomfort, numbness, and swelling. The computer-assisted system outperforms syringes for traditional injections. This new system generates a precisely controlled anesthetic flow rate that eliminates the need for the operator to use thumb pressure to administer the injection. The lightweight pen-grasp handle results in greater tactile feedback, precision, operator ease, and patient comfort. The greatest advantage may be in the new techniques that it makes available. With these techniques, a dentist can target the teeth to achieve profound pulpal anesthesia, often without the annoying side effects of facial numbness. With this new advanced system in the maxillary arch, the AMSA injection offers clinical advantages over traditional anesthesia techniques, according to Dr. Mark Friedman, whom I consulted with earlier this year. In the mandibular arch, a safe and predictable PDL injection technique may replace the need for an inferior alveolar block in numerous clinical situations. The use of these modified injection techniques can have a positive influence on patient safety, patient comfort, and office productivity. Both of these systems take the fear and anxiety out of dental injections. They offer exciting advanced technology for local pain control. Significantly, if patient stress and anxiety are reduced, the operator immediately benefits. New horizons in local anesthesia offer improved opportunities for patient comfort using computer-controlled local anesthetic systems and TEA.

Examining your smile.

The future of cosmetic dentistry is boundless. The creativity and the ingenuity of the dental practitioner supplemented by computer technology is opening new vistas of treatment possibilities. The dentist of the 1990s will restore and enhance the natural beauty of the human smile more than ever in the past.

Stability of vitamin A in frozen sera.

We compared values for vitamin A measured in fresh sera with values obtained after storage at -20 degrees C for five to eight years. Loss of vitamin A from long-stored sera during the extraction step was eliminated by adding ascorbic acid to the extraction solvent, ethanol. Retinol-binding protein was also measured in the stored sera. Not only did vitamin A values remain stable during the years of storage, but also the correlation between concentrations of vitamin A and retinol-binding protein in the stored sera was typical of that observed with fresh sera.